


Day 4 of JohnDave Week: Hurt/Comfort

by taaklear



Series: JohnDave Week 2016 [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Sburb, umm please let me know if i should tag this with anything else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 03:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7418650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taaklear/pseuds/taaklear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Sburb, everyone has to learn to deal with their respective traumas. Unfortunately, Dave has decided to deal with his by bottling up his emotions like usual, and John has to wipe up the mess when they inevitably spill over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day 4 of JohnDave Week: Hurt/Comfort

Sburb has left an impact on all their lives, John knows. It may be over, they may be done with it, but it’s not done with them. He’s not sure it ever will be. The frequency of his nightmares has lessened in the time since they won, and especially since he lives with Dave now, sleeps in the same bed with him. They got together shortly after getting their lives sorted out, and now that they’re living together, Dave seems happy. He doesn’t seem like he’s been affected by Sburb any more than anyone else has, perhaps even less so than everyone else has.

At least, that’s what John thought up until today.

When he gets home from work, Dave doesn’t come to greet him, and the apartment is oddly quiet. John checks the living room first, thinking perhaps Dave has fallen asleep on the couch, but no such luck. Then he checks their room, wondering if Dave is in there. Again, no. The last place he checks is the kitchen, and oh, that’s...not good.

Dave is sitting at the table with his head in his hands, shoulders shaking. There’s a half-prepared dinner on the counter, Dave’s phone and a knife discarded nearby. Confused, and more than a little worried, John approaches Dave cautiously, reaching out to him. Dave flinches from his touch, startled, and looks up with a hiccuping sob.

“Oh, you’re--you’re home early.” He’s not, but he decides not to say anything. “Shit. Sorry. I should...I should finish making dinner…” Dave starts to get up, but John puts his hand on his shoulder firmly, keeping him seated, and takes a seat at the table as well.

Dave looks at him with something that is almost panic, and John tries to give him a reassuring smile. “Hey. Don’t worry about dinner. I’ll finish it. You just tell me what’s wrong, and then I’ll finish making dinner for you, okay?” He opens his mouth to protest, and John gives him a stern look that makes him shut his mouth again. “I’m not taking no for an answer, Dave.”

Slowly, his boyfriend nods. There’s silence, and it doesn’t seem like he’s going to say anything else. “Dave? Are you going to tell me what’s the matter?” John prompts him again, careful to keep his voice calm and patient.

“N...nothing. It’s chill dude. Just, um. Onion juice all up in my eyes. Hate those fuckers. I was--cutting them…” John looks over at the cutting board. There are conspicuously no onions in sight.

“Dave, come on. Please tell me the truth. I won’t be mad at you or think you’re being silly or anything! Gosh, I mean, you’ve held me while I cried enough times and let me spill my guts to you, so how about you let me return the favor?”

Dave’s quiet again, thinking, and finally, slowly, he nods. “Okay. Okay, that’s fair.”

He doesn’t say anything for a few more minutes, and John’s about to prompt him again when he finally speaks. “I was...you always cook for me, right, so I wanted to make dinner for you tonight. Surprise you when you got home from work. But...I, I gotta cut the potatoes, right? I didn’t think about it when I was looking at the recipe, but I picked up the knife and I was gonna cut them and I looked at the blade and I. I couldn’t fucking do it, John. I can’t use a goddamn knife just because they look like tiny-ass fucking swords.” His voice breaks, and John feels his heart break a little too. “I just wanted to do something nice for you but I fucking can’t and now you have to finish making dinner anyway because I can’t. God, I’m pathetic.”

Dave’s crying, again, and John reaches out for his hand, holding it gently. “Hey,” he says softly. “It’s okay. I don’t mind that you couldn’t make dinner. They always say it’s the thought that counts, right? You were really trying to do something nice for me. How about you just sit here and I’ll go put away the ingredients and then I’ll order Chinese and we can sit on the couch and watch TV, okay?”

Face blotchy and wet with tears, Dave nods jerkily, and John leans in to kiss his flushed, damp cheek.

\--

By the time the Chinese arrives, Dave’s so worn out from crying that John practically ends up spoon-feeding him rice, and he really doesn’t mind. Dave’s obviously been bottling a lot of shit up, and John wishes he noticed sooner. 

After they eat, John leaves Dave on the couch to run them a bubble bath, and halfway through filling the tub he hears Dave come in and feels him drape himself over John’s back. “Hey,” John says softly, reaching up to put a hand on Dave’s arm.

“Hey,” Dave says in return, voice still a little rough from crying. “Is that bubble bath for me?”

“For us,” John clarifies, and he grins when he feels Dave nuzzle his shoulder.

“Good. I wouldn’t wanna take a bubble bath without you. ‘M so tired, what if I fell asleep and drowned? That would be tragic, and probably the lamest way to die. At least I’d be comfy.”

It’s nice to hear him rambling again, and in fact, he almost sounds back to normal. John doesn’t say anything in response, but he doesn’t need to.

Dave does end up falling asleep in the bubble bath, and it is in fact John who saves him from a bubbly demise by waking him up and leading him to the bedroom, where he collapses into bed and is almost instantly asleep again despite still being naked. As he falls asleep, himself, John makes a mental note to keep a closer eye on Dave’s moods.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah this is a generic post-Sburb AU...I actually haven't read Homestuck since [S] Game Over, so I have next to no clue what the actual ending was! Cool! No seriously, I don't give two shits. Leave me here in my JohnDave corner. Like I said in the tags, please let me know if there's anything else I need to tag this with, such as content/trigger warnings. I figure it should probably be tagged with /something/ but I have no clue what.


End file.
